Apple Watch Series 11 review: wrist-flickingly good with longer battery life

The Apple Watch Series 11 adds the one thing most people actually want from a smartwatch: longer battery life.

Otherwise the new model is a direct replacement for the Series 10, matching it in design, dimensions and features, with most of its upgrades coming from software. That makes it one of the very best smartwatches available, even if it hasn’t changed much.

The Series 11 is also £30 cheaper in the UK, costing from £369 (€449/$399/A$679), and sits above the newly revamped £219 Watch SE at the low end and the £749 Ultra 3 at the high end.

Like last year’s Series 10, the new model is only 9.7mm thick, which makes it a slim fit to the wrist, easy to sneak under cuffs and more comfortable at night. It is light, slim and easy to live with.

The 2,000nit OLED screen is plenty bright for seeing indoors and out, remaining clear to read off-angle, which makes glancing down at the time or notifications easy. It is covered by glass that Apple says is twice as scratch resistant as before, although not as hard as sapphire, which is reserved for the more expensive titanium models.

The new watch has the same S10 chip as last year’s model but now supports optional 5G and stronger reception for those times when you’re in the wilderness. The batteries have increased in capacity by 9% and 11% for the 42mm and 46mm watches respectively.

The 46mm lasted a good two days in testing with sleep tracking but without exercise. Most people will just about be able to track two days and two nights before needing a charge, which takes 66 minutes using a 20W or greater power adaptor (not included), hitting about 70% in 30 minutes. If you do go out for a run, it will last about eight hours of tracking, which is long enough for a marathon or two.

Specifications

• Case size: 42 or 46mm

• Case thickness: 9.7mm

• Weight: about 30g or 37g

• Processor: S10

• Storage: 64GB

• Operating system: watchOS 26

• Water resistance: 50 metres (5ATM)

• Sensors: HR, ECG, spO2, temp, depth, mic, speaker, NFC, GNSS, compass, altimeter

• Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.3, wifi 4, NFC, UWB, optional 5G

watchOS 26

The Series 11 ships with watchOS 26, which runs on all models from 2020’s Series 6 and newer. It adds Apple’s new Liquid Glass design, which makes most elements semi-translucent, and adds two new watch faces: a large digital face called Flow that responds to movement and an analogue face called Exactograph, which breaks out hours, minutes and seconds into their own dials.

The best new feature is the wrist-flick gesture, where you rapidly twist your wrist away from you and then back to dismiss things and return to the watch face. It works even without raising your wrist to look at the watch, meaning you can dismiss alarms with a satisfying flick of the wrist.

Hypertension, sleep and AI workouts

The Apple Watch features the same comprehensive health monitoring suite of tools from previous models but adds a couple of new features and a redesigned workout app.

Hypertension alerts look for signs of high blood pressure over a 30-day period, notifying you to get yourself checked out if your heart rate data suggests you may have a hidden problem.

The new sleep score metric makes Apple’s sleep tracking easier to interpret, similar to competitors from Google, Samsung and others. Each morning the watch shows a score out of 100 that is broken down into three categories: duration, bedtime and interruptions, which are all self-explanatory and viewable in the Health app on the iPhone, too.

Workout buddy is an AI coach that uses your previous workout data to give you pep talks before and after workouts, such as recognising that you have already run three times this week and the level of effort you put it. It also provides audible heads-up when you reach certain milestones during exercise, such as a particular pace, heart rate, distance, time or other metrics.

There is a choice of three voices, which speak to you over Bluetooth headphones connected to your watch for one of 12 activities, including walking, running or cycling. However, it only works if you also carry your iPhone 15 Pro or later with you, which I found irritating enough that I would forgo the feature to avoid being encumbered with a phone on runs.

Sustainability

Apple says the battery should last more than 1,000 full charge cycles with at least 80% of its original capacity and can be replaced for £95. Repairs cost between £295 and £389 depending on the model.

It contains more than 40% recycled material including aluminium, cobalt, copper, glass, gold, lithium, rare earth elements, steel, tin, titanium and tungsten. Apple offers trade-in and free recycling for devices, and breaks down the watch’s environmental impact in its report.

Price

The Series 11 comes in two sizes (42 and 46mm), a choice of materials and the option of 5G that requires an eSim and compatible phone plan add-on. It starts at £369 (€449/$399/A$679). The 5G models cost an extra £100 (€120/$100/A$170).

For comparison, the Apple Watch Ultra 3 costs £749, the Apple Watch SE 3 costs from £219, the Google Pixel Watch 4 costs from £349 and the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 costs from £294.

Verdict

The Series 11 hasn’t changed the winning Apple Watch formula but it has added two things that most will appreciate: more scratch-resistant glass and longer battery life.

The slim design, fast charging and two-day battery life make the watch easy to live with, particularly for sleep tracking and use as a silent alarm clock. The wrist-flick gesture is so good every watch should have it, while compatibility with straps and charging pucks for all previous Apple Watches is a great bonus for those upgrading. A price cut in the UK is welcome, too.

The glass-like design of watchOS 26 may take some getting used to but the software works just the same and introduces some useful features including hypertension alerts, which could be lifesaving. Workout buddy is the most interesting feature. It was a far more positive experience than I was expecting but relies on working out with your phone, too, which is a bit of a drag for runs.

Overall, the Series 11 is one of the very best smartwatches available for the iPhone, and if you have an older watch such as a Series 6, you will see a massive upgrade. However, this year its status as the default Apple Watch to buy has been challenged by the revamped Watch SE 3, which offers better value if not quite as many features or as refined a design.

Pros: great always-on screen, slim design, double-tap and wrist-flick gestures, top health tracking, great activity tracking, workout buddy AI trainer, 50-metre water resistance, two-day battery life, optional 5G, long software support, recycled materials, takes older watch straps.

Cons: expensive, only works with an iPhone, no third-party watch faces, looks the same as all recent models, undercut by Watch SE.